Base Application List

List of applications I recommend for the typical user. I personally prefer the default desktop interface KDE, but if you have a system that is less capable, check out LXQt Desktop Environment and see if it works better for your purposes. Once you are set


Multimedia Installation and Configuration

This is a quick guide to get all the things installed and configured that openSUSE is not allowed to automatically include due to some legal nonsense. This will allow you to play DVDs, watch movies encoded in MP4, M4V, AVI, etc.

Google Chrome Web Browser

I use it for Google applications and Netflix, so specific multimedia apps that have DRM. Outside of that, I find Chrome to be several steps behind Firefox in terms of speed and use of memory. I still use this often but for machines that have lower powered specifications, Chrome is not your friend.

I do recommend you install Chrome if you plan to watch streaming media. Ensure you select the RPM that corresponds to openSUSE and since Leap is only 64-bit, select the appropriate version.
Once downloaded, note where it is downloaded and install using Install / Remove software.

Oracle Java Install Instructions

I wouldn’t attempt to rewrite the Java install instructions on the openSUSE Wiki, especially since I have contributed many edits to it. If you find that you are having issues with the open source version of Java, I recommend you install the genuine article of Java from Oracle. I recommend you just install the Java Runtime Environment and use Oracle’s RPM for install. The process takes some work but when you have it working, it works pretty well.

Full Application List

The great thing about open source projects is that there are so many options. The downside, there are so many options and it can be overwhelming. Rather than give you ALL the options, I will give you my “go to” applications that I regularly count on. In no way am I saying that these are the best applications, there may be better options out there but these work well for me and is a starting point. Should my choice of application be lacking in some sort of feature, it is likely there is something similar that would work better for you.